Thanks that make overcoming frustration(Daniel 6:10)

Thanks that make overcoming frustration(Daniel 6:10)

I would like to introduce a person. 

Her name is Kim Hyeo young. She is Koarean. 

She has been hurt in her heart since she was born. 

When she was born, her father wanted to have a son, not daughter. 

But it was not a son, it was she.

So, he was not happy with her, and he was drunken and he threw the newborn baby on the flour. 

At that time, she injured her backbone, as a result, she does not grow her tall.

Now she is 50 years old, but but her high is even under 130 cm. 

And that was not all. After that her father was not happy with his poor life. So he committed suicide. 

And after that her mother got mental illness. And she had to raise four younger brother and sisters instead of her parents. 

So, she stop the study until elementary school. And she started work at someone’s house as a made. By the money that she earned as a made at someone’s house, she raised her brothers and sisters. 

It would be very difficult enough for her, but her mother coursed her, “It is because of you that our family is so unhappy.” 

How hurtful this word to her?

How unhappy she might have grown up in such an environment of beating and cursing. 

She lived in this harsh environment, but she exerted superhuman strength. 

First of all, she had only a diploma in elementary school, but she did self study herself, and got a master’s degree from the University of Colombia in America.

She now live a valuable life as an international volunteer doctor in Africa with a high level of education. 

 There are many precious remarks she left behind, one of them is that, “The world has given me frustration, but I wanted to find the hope in my life. And it is a blessing to me that there is suffering what I can bear”

I bless you to be able to confess this, just like her who overcame suffering well and accepts such an environment as a blessing. 

In the Bible there are many stories about many people who have survived the difficult environment and hardship like Kim Hye-young. 

Among them, Daniel is the representative person. 

He is a person who, at an early age, his country fell into ruin and was taken captive to the enemy country. Now he is in an emergency that he might lost his life in the text that we read. 

At that time, the king’s policy of the Persian kingdom was to set up 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them three high officials. 

This Daniel was one of three high officals. 

The problem is that king Darius liked Daniel too much than the other high officials, so the King Darius planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 

It is good if you receive favor from king, but it also will be very dangerous. 

Daniel’s rivals around him wanted to kill Daniel. 

Look at the vers 6-7.

“Then these high officials and satraps, came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O king Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king shall be cast into the den of lions…” 

these are very bad people. 

They knew that Daniel was serving God, so that they made special law by abusing it to kill Daniel. 

However, Daniel served God and prayed to God three times a day as usual. As a result, his life was endangered. 

Daniel is not a pastor but a lay person. 

He was a high ranking government official. He was an office worker. 

And you can see that Daniel has suffered two heartbreaks in his work life. 

First, he was hurt by his co-worker.

How could they do such a dirty thing to faithful person, Daniel?

You can see how Daniel lived his best life when his rivals tried to kill him. we can see that in verse 4. 

Look at the verse 4, “The the high officials and the satrpas sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error of fault was found in him…”

And in verse three, you can see how great Daniel’s ability. 

“ then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him and …”

now can you know why the rivales wanted kill Daniel?

It is because of jealousy.

 When we look at the Bible, after the fall of Adam, the first fruit that appeared was the jealousy. 

After Adam and Eve fall, Cain was jealous of his brother and killed him first. 

 So, I can be a measure of my spirituality with this question that, “ do I jealous about those people who are better than me?”

When I looked for the word jealousy in the Bible, most of them were dealing with jealousy of God rather than human jealousy. 

The word “jealousy” appeared thirty-two times, except for five times, it was jealous of God. 

There are two kinds of jealousy. 

The one is the jealousy of God, and the other one is the jealousy of human being. 

The characteristic of human jealousy is the jealousy of destroying, killing and breaking. 

On the other hand, jealousy of God is a creative jealousy that restores and unifies.

The jealousy of God is not jealousy to destroy and break humans. 

It is just that expression of God’s love for us.

So, if we cannot avoid being jealous when we see someone who is better than me, what prayer should we do?

God, when I see someone who is better than me I feel instinctive jealousy, please let this jealousy sublimate into jealousy of God. 

And, “May God give me some of his excellent spirituality.”

The other hurt that Daniel had got was from his boss. 

When I see this verse, I had question that why king Darius did not protect Daniel, his loyal servant?

In fact, this Darius king really loved Daniel. 

But what is good for Daniel? The king couldn't protect him?

This is human being. 

So, when we work in our work place, we always get hurt.

We got hurt from our co-workers, and boss.

This is the image of modern people living in this land. 

Then, what should we do?

Can not we live with these hurt every day? Isn’t it?

What attitude did Daniel take in such an environment?

Verse 10 is so important.

“when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.”

What a great person Daniel is!

How was Daniel able to keep serving God in that crisis without shaking?

How blessed is our life if we can do like him?

I could realize the answer about this question.

1.    Faith is not the blooming flower but the rooting down.

Most trees fall in the wind when they cannot get their root deep. 

No matter how many roots grow sideways, if they cannot root deeply, the tree will fall.

As we become famous and busy, we have a lot of roots aside, if we do not root deeply in front of God, when we meet a crisis, we also could be fallen down like the tree which had not root deep. 

Psalm 1 is like a gate to the rest of the Psalms. 

In Psalm 1, God divided human life into two kinds.

One is a desirable human being in GOD’s sight, the other one is an unfavorable human image in the sight of God.

The writer describes the desirable human image in the sight of God as a blessed person, and

In the sight of GOD, the unfavorable human image is described as the wicked.

 Psalm 1 says that the blessed one is like a tree planted in the stream.

On the contrary, the wicked are like chaff that is blown in the wind…

Observe the chaff in the wind.

Something is bustling and moving around but there is no direction. 

Go here and there….something like that…

There are some pastor that I respect. 

They are famous pastors who rarely engage in outside activity. 

So there are many people misunderstand them that they only take care of their own church so that they are very selfish. 

But it is not selfish, but it is their own way of protecting them selves. 

They are alert that they make a lot of roots aside but not take the roots deeply.

It is not a life of faith to blossom your life by using the name of the Lord.

Though the life of faith is shabby and nothing is reveal to the people, it is a faith to deeply root in the name of the Lord like a tree planted in the stream. 

A desirable believer is not looking special in ordinary day, but 

When the storm come and crisis come in his life, at that time he does not be shaken. So that God can use him in the stormy day.

Daniel was not shaken during the crisis because he was deeply rooted.

2.    Then, how could he root deep?

Deep rooting occurs when I repeatedly do this exercise that to fight with my instinct.

Look at the verse 10.

“when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. “

as he had done previously….!!! It is important.

Verse 10 cannot be possible unless he has been living a life of deep faith rooted in ordinary day. 

This is the preciousness of Daniel.

Acts 1’s background is that Jesus went to back to heaven, and before the strong work of the Holy Spirit. It is an unfortunate gap. 

In such a situation, the disciples of the Lord were devoting themselves to prayer. 

Here, “devoted”, proskartereo, it is the word that persistently committed to something. 

In that fearful situation, ‘proskartereo’, they prayed persistently. 

If they follow their instincts, they couldn't pray in fear.

What prayer did the disciples pray for?

In the situation that They could be in panic, proskartereo, they persistently prayed.

It was a prayer to against instinct. 

Philippians 4:6 “ 

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Daniel opened the window in this situation that his enemies were trying to kill him and prayed to God with thanksgiving. 

Only the one who have been trained to resist his instinct can do it. 

It is problem to have our faith life according to our feelings.

When we are not really happy, we do not thank to God.

And when we are happy, we offer many thanksgiving offering .

It is not right. 

No matter what situation we are in, we against our instincts and emotion, and we fight our instincts , and proskartereo, persistently devote myself to thanksgiving to God. 

I am an unverified missionary. 

I might make you disappoint about me. 

I have never experienced such trials until now.

I do not really know how to behave when the trials like Job, or Daniel come to me. 

We have to do many training against our instincts.

3.    It is the fruit of gratitude that comes from the hard training against instinct. 

This gratitude brings miracles to our lives. 

Daniel was also a person who experience a miracle in the lion’s cave. 

Daniel fought his own instinct in that situation and came to God with thanksgiving, so that he experienced a miracle in the Lion’s cave

May the Lord bless you that to remember the grace of the cross of the Lord, and to give thanks to the Lord every day.